


The Magic of A Chance Meeting

by awkwardblogger



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Actor Steve Rogers, Alternate Universe - Actors, Anxiety Attacks, BAMF Natasha, Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson Friendship, Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Canon Disabled Character, Chance Meetings, Comic-Con, Cosplay, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, M/M, Mentions of homophobia, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Nerd Bucky Barnes, Nerdiness, Peggy Carter is Steve's best friend, Pepper Potts is a gift, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, ex-military Bucky Barnes, fangirling, steve rogers is a sweetheart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-05-14 22:46:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5761789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardblogger/pseuds/awkwardblogger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers is Bucky Barnes' favorite actor of all time. On his way home from comic-con, Bucky walks into his favorite diner and Steve happens to be there, but Bucky is too busy having an anxiety attack to notice; but Steve notices Bucky.<br/>Or<br/>Bucky Barnes is a huge fucking nerd and Steve Rogers is a famous actor who has a thing for nerd boys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Magic of A Chance Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [the Steve Rogers problem](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3509063) by [relenafanel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/relenafanel/pseuds/relenafanel). 



> I wanted to just say, that yes Bucky does catch Steve's attention while having an anxiety attack, it's not because Steve thinks anxiety issues are cute, it's because he feels bad that someone is having an anxiety attack. I am not trying to romanticize mental illness

Bucky Barnes was a lot of things: a former solider, a big brother, a goofball, and most importantly, a giant fucking nerd. Bucky had been a nerd his entire life, even when he was the captain of the football team, he was geeking out over comic books and super hero movies. Everything Bucky ever read was free range for obsessing over, and Bucky was never ashamed by it. Even when the guys on his football team called him a loser and threatened to stuff him in a locker if he ever dressed up in cosplay at school; Bucky was a nerd through and through.

When Bucky joined the army, he didn’t have time to geek out over new comic books or his favorite TV shows or his favorite books. Being in the military gave him less freedom, but Bucky was good at what he did, so he stayed in the military for nine years. He never planned on getting out of the military at the time he did, but when a bomb goes off and takes your arm with it, you get honorably discharged. In a split second Bucky lost his arm and a big part of his identity.

When Bucky came back to the states he turned back to the only part of his identity he could still identify with: being a nerd. For almost six months after coming home, Bucky did nothing but read, watch TV, watch movies, go on tumblr and read fanfiction. A month after he came back, Bucky had found a TV show he’d never seen before: **_Shield_**.

 _Shield_ was a TV that revolved around The Avengers, a team of Superheroes that all lived together in New York City. The show was already three seasons in when Bucky found it and quickly joined the fandom. The show was frustrating on certain levels: they didn’t talk much about the characters backgrounds much and the only character they knew the real name of was Thor because he didn’t have a super hero nickname. Ironically, the actor that played Thor was also named Thor. Thor Odinson was a Norwegian actor whose parents named all of their children after Norse Mythology, and had landed the role of Thor pretty effortlessly, according to the casting director.

Bucky, like many of the other fans, was dying to find out the back story of The Black Widow. She was Bucky’s second favorite character, mainly due to the fact that she was a sexy, badass assassin that was unapologetic about her sexuality. The Black Widow had an active sex drive and unlike plenty of female TV characters, she didn’t only have sex inside of a relationship, she slept with whomever whenever she got horny because it was the logical thing to do. The Black Widow without a doubt had a special place in Bucky’s heart, but his favorite character by far was Captain America.

Captain America truly had a heart of gold; everything the man did, he did with best intentions. Captain America was everything America is supposed to be, and the character quickly made Bucky fall in love with him. Before Bucky knew it, he had a giant crush on Captain America and squealed like a twelve year old girl every time Captain America took his shirt off.

Once Bucky caught up to where the show was, it gave him something to look forward to every week. In the middle of his week full of doctors appointments and his family pressuring him to look for a job, he got an hour of nothing but _Shield_. As the show progressed, he realized he loved every single character in the show. Iron Man was relatable in ways Bucky didn’t even want to acknowledge, having to deal with things that put you on edge constantly and just shrug it off. Iron Man was a recovering alcoholic who often was forced to stare temptation in the face when one of the Avengers brought home booze. Iron Man and Captain America butt heads a lot, adding drama every once in a while, but Bucky loved how that they always made up, even when they really didn’t want to.

Hawkeye was deaf, but easily one of the coolest characters on the show. Hawkeye was best friends with Black Widow and there was a lot of speculation on if they were more than friends, but Bucky was more into the idea of Hawkeye and Black Widow being only best buds, nothing more; but then again, Bucky was secretly hoping they’d reveal Black Widow to be a lesbian.

The Hulk was one of the more complex characters. In his “human” form, The Hulk was simply a scientist, but in his Hulk form, he was a giant green fighting machine. The Hulk was a very sensitive and sweet man, smart and obviously the smartest character on the show. Thor, the Prince of Asgard, was the unlikely best friend of The Hulk. Thor was unused to the customs on Earth and was rather childlike outside of battle, which they dealt with all the time. Thor often followed The Hulk around like a lost puppy off the battle field and got adorably excited whenever he got to witness “the science”, as Thor called it.

Seven months after being honorably discharged, a friend Bucky met at the VA, Sam, told Bucky that his roommate moved out.

“Hey Buck, how’re you doing?” Sam asked.

“I’m doing okay, I guess. Some days are better than others.” Bucky admitted.

They were grabbing lunch at Bucky’s favorite diner, Rhodey’s Diner, like they did every Wednesday.

“Ain’t that the truth.” Sam said with a humorless chuckle.

Bucky gave a sad smile and stared at the floor as Sam cleared his throat.

“Anyway, my roommate is moving out. He’s moving in with his sister, Wanda. I don’t know why, but it looks like I’m on the market for a roommate. I know that your family has been driving you pretty insane, man, so if you wanted to move out…” Sam trailed off.

Bucky had been thinking about moving out for a while now. Since getting his first job as a civilian, his family has been pressuring him to go to college, something he had originally thought he’d do after his first four years, but he had been wrong. Bucky worked a part time job at Starbucks, but with his disability benefits and the fact that Sam had a real job, he wouldn’t have to pay so much on rent.

“Sounds pretty tempting Sam, but can you let me sleep on it?” Bucky asked.

“Oh yeah, dude. Take all the time you need.” Sam agreed, holding his hands up apologetically.

Three days later, after getting in a screaming match with his mom about higher education, Bucky called Sam.

“Sam, it’s Bucky. You still on the hunt for a roommate?” Bucky asked.

The next week, he moved into Sam’s apartment with him. Things went really well with the two of them. They watched the same shows and geeked out over similar things, they went to the VA on the same days, and overall, they were good for each other.

Sam liked to keep things clean and Bucky didn’t. Sam kept the place clean and Bucky kept the two of them fed. After getting a bionic arm, Bucky started physical therapy and was recommended to try cooking and baking. Once getting the hang of his new arm, Bucky realized that cooking and baking was actually very relaxing for him and jumped into it. He began baking when he got stressed, so some days Sam would come home to two cakes and three batches of cookies and a batch of brownies all lying around the kitchen. Learning new recipes was a way Bucky could safely push himself with new things. If it didn’t work out, only Sam was there to witness and he wouldn’t bring it up, letting Bucky deal with the frustration on his own.

Sam was the perfect roommate. He didn’t come rushing into Bucky’s room when he had night terrors the way Bucky’s parents had, he understood when Bucky needed space and he knew when to give Bucky a nudge in the right direction. After living together for two months, Sam and Bucky noticed something they never had before while eating together at Rhodey’s Diner. On the wall of Rhodey’s Diner was a picture of Tony Stark, the actor who plays Iron Man on _Shield_. Tony Stark was the son of a billionaire, Howard Stark, and Tony became an engineer who designed weapons. Eight years ago, Tony was on the field, demonstrating his new weapon when he was kidnapped by a terrorist group. It took about two months for Tony to be rescued and when he came back, he quit his job and went into acting because he found it therapeutic.

“Hold up, Rhodey! Rhodey, get out here!” Sam called.

James “Rhodey” Rhodes was a good friend of Sam’s, someone he’d known for a long time. Rhodey came out from the kitchen, and gave Sam an annoyed look.

“What do you want, Wilson?” Rhodey asked with fake annoyance.

“How come we didn’t know you met Tony Stark?” Bucky demanded.

“’Met’? I’ve known Tony Stark for years, man. It’s no secret.” Rhodey said with a shrug.

“How come you didn’t tell us? You know we’re fans of _Shield_! This would have made us come here for often.” Sam cried.

“Yeah, because I wanna see your ugly mugs more than I already do.” Rhodey teased. “It just never came up. Tony doesn’t stop by here much, anymore, anyway. It’s not like you’ve been missing seeing him every week.”

“He used to come here a lot?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah, before his acting career took off he used to come here all the time. The papz left him alone once he quit weapon designing, but when his acting career took off, those leeches started following him around again.” Rhodey explained. “His girlfriend, Pepper, told him be needed to start eating in the privacy of his own home if he didn’t want to be all over the news every time he went to dinner.”

“Man, I can’t believe you never told us this.” Sam whined.

Rhodey rolled his eyes and left their table. They didn’t talk about it after Rhodey left, but Bucky couldn’t help imagining running into Tony Stark and internally fangirled. Two weeks after finding out that Rhodey knows Tony Stark, the mid-season finale for _Shield_ happens and leaves with a giant cliff hanger, then saying it’ll be back in two months.

“No!” Sam cried as Bucky shouted at the TV.

“You can’t just start to tell us about the Captain’s past, throw him off a fucking building and then leave!” Bucky shouted.

In the mid-season finale, The Avengers were fighting Doctor Doom. In the middle of the episode, Captain America had snapped at Iron Man for being slow in rescuing a kid. After Captain America left the room, Iron Man turned to The Hulk and said “Geez, what’s his problem?” in which they answered with a flashback. The flashback was to Captain America on a rescue mission in WWII, he was trying to get his best friend out of Nazi hands, but he wasn’t quick enough and he ended up jumping onto a bomber, where his best friend was assassinated and in order to keep everyone safe, he landed the bomber in the middle of the ocean, where he froze and wouldn’t be found for seventy years. Shortly after the flashback, Captain America was facing off with Doctor Doom on top of a building. Doctor Doom had Black Widow unconscious in his arms and had a gun to her head, Captain tried to save Black Widow, but Doctor Doom jumped to a different roof top. Captain followed, but once he hit the roof top, Doctor Doom shoved him off of it.

“This is not okay!” Sam whined, angrily shoving a brownie into his mouth.

“I can’t wait two months to hear from our heroes again!” Bucky complained to his friend.

Sam instantly sat up, suddenly looking very serious.

“Well, maybe we don’t have to.” Sam said.

“What? Dude, you’re making no sense.” Bucky pointed out.

“Rhodey says Tony Stark gave him two tickets to comic-con, man, with access to panels and everything! Rhodey says he’d give it to us for free!” Sam explained, getting more excited as he spoke about it.

Bucky perked up instantly.

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” He demanded. “Sam, we **have** to take him up on his offer!”

They **did** take Rhodey up on his offer and had a month to prepare for comic-con.

Long before Bucky was a one armed veteran, he was the Brooklyn Sewing Competition champ of 1998. Bucky had been sewing since he was a little kid and when he went to his first ever comic-con, he made his own cosplay outfit at only fifteen. Before that Bucky made his own Halloween costumes where he’d always dress as his favorite character at the time. This was going to be his first time going to a convention since he joined the military, and he was pretty nervous. But he took a page out of his therapist’s book and threw himself into making his costume instead of obsessing over his nervousness and picture every possible way this could go wrong.

He decided to go as Thor, even bought a blonde wig to make it more convincing. He spent two weeks making the costume, having a pretty difficult time constructing battle armor out of fabric and Styrofoam, but he did it and it looked pretty damn awesome.

“Dude, this is the coolest thing I have ever seen.” Sam grinned when he saw the costume in all its glory.

Sam decided to go a Hawkeye and when he told Bucky this, they spent an hour discussing the fact that the show only had white characters and really needed to fix that. Much to Bucky’s irritation, Sam decided to buy a costume and make a few adjustments instead of making his own and forbid Bucky from making the costume for him. Bucky spent two days calling him a meanie and getting made fun of for it.

A week before comic-con, Bucky’s sister, Rebecca gives him a call.

“Hello?” Bucky answered his phone, exhausted from his eight hour shift at Starbucks, where college kids were downing coffee to keep them awake for studying for finals.

“Hey Buck, it’s your sister, Rebecca.” The voice on the other end answered.

“Oh. Hey Becca, what’s up?” Bucky asked.

“Well, I haven’t seen you since you moved out. I was wondering if you wanted to grab some dinner and just catch up.” As Rebecca spoke, Bucky could hear her shrugging.

“Yeah, defiantly.” Bucky agreed.

They met up at Rhodey’s Diner and Bucky was surprised by how glad he was to see her. When Bucky had moved back home, Rebecca had been pushing him more than any other family member to get back to his old self. Before moving out, Bucky had told her that the old Bucky died in the explosion and she should get used to the new one. That was the last time they spoke.

“Hey Buck, you look good.” Rebecca said with a soft smile.

“Thanks, so do you.” Bucky smiled politely.

“So, how have you been?” Rebecca asked as she scanned the menu.

“I’ve been doing well. My therapist says I’m making improvements, I’m going to the VA every week, I’m still only working part time at Starbucks but at the moment I’m okay with that. Uh, Sam and I are going to comic-con together next week.” Bucky informed his sister.

By the way Rebecca treats Bucky, sometimes it’s hard to see who’s the older sibling. She’s protective and bossy, something she didn’t develop with him until he lost his arm.

“Comic-con? Bucky, those tickets are ridiculously expensive! I can’t believe you spent that much money on a stupid convention!” She cried.

Bucky felt anger bubble in his stomach. He knows damn well how expensive comic-con can be and that’s why he’s so thankful for Rhodey giving them these tickets for free.

“Fuck you!” Bucky sneered. “I didn’t buy them! Rhodey gave us the tickets, which he got as a gift from Tony fucking Stark!”

People were beginning to stare and as Rebecca realized she had lashed out at her brother for nothing, she tried to shrink into her seat.

“You don’t have to shout.” She muttered, as if she hadn’t been shouting at him only seconds before.

“Fuck you! Fuck you and your lack of faith in me! I don’t need this. I wasn’t the one who made the damn phone call and I’m not the one waiting for their brother with PTSD to jump back to being who he was before he lost his fucking arm!” Bucky snarled.

Rebecca gaped at him in shock as Bucky stormed out of the diner. He could feel Rhodey’s sympathetic eyes on him as he walked away, but he chose to ignore it. When he got back to the apartment, Sam wasn’t home and Bucky was kind of glad to have some time to himself. He headed to the kitchen and he swears to God that he meant to just grab some baking supplies and just lose himself in baking, but as he reached the cabinet, a gun shot rang out. Suddenly, Bucky wasn’t in New York, he was in Afghanistan. Bucky completely blacked out.

Sam came home to find the kitchen torn apart. Everything that could be broken was broken and Bucky was huddled in the corner, looking terrified. Sam doesn’t even know how he managed to talk Bucky back into reality, but he had no problem being there for the aftermath.

“Oh my god.” Bucky whispered, looking around the kitchen in absolute horror. “Did I do this?”

“Yeah, but it’s okay. You didn’t mean to and all this stuff is replaceable.” Sam reassured him.

Bucky just stared in complete horror, acting as if he hadn’t heard Sam. Bucky was visibly shaking as he wrapped his arms around himself and took a step away from the kitchen.

“Oh my god.” Bucky whimpered.

“Hey, hey, hey. Bucky, Bucky I want you to look at me, man.” Sam began, holding his hands up in a non-threatening manner. “We’re in New York, okay. You’re safe. We’re in New York, you work at Starbucks, we’re going to comic-con next week. You’re not in Afghanistan anymore, Bucky. You’re safe now.”

Bucky met Sam’s eyes and Sam nearly winced when he saw they were brimmed with tears. Bucky’s lower lip was wobbling in fear and Sam’s heart hurt for the man.

“I’m scared Sam. I’m scared and I have no fucking idea why.” Bucky confessed to his friend. “How do I stop being scared if I don’t know what I’m scared of?”

Sam didn’t know what to say, so he wrapped Bucky in a hug and let Bucky collect himself in the warm, supportive embrace of his best friend. Once he calmed down, Bucky took a bubble bath and decided to sleep on the floor of Sam’s room, so he could feel safe.

Soon, comic-con was here and Bucky was anxious and excited. Comic-con had always been something Bucky geeked over until people screamed at him to shut the fuck up. Comic-con had always been a place Bucky felt welcomed, accepted; but things felt different this time. In his Thor costume, his metal arm was on full display and he felt as if everyone was staring holes into him. He felt like they were all judging him, sneering to their friends “who does he think he is”, making fun of him and thinking that he didn’t belong here. But deep in Bucky’s heart he remembered a time when comic-con felt like the only place he belonged.

At age sixteen Bucky came out to his entire high school as bisexual. A boy from the football team Bucky had always considered his friend broke his nose when he heard and told Bucky to stay the fuck out of the locker room. Enough people on the football team told the coach they didn’t want Bucky in the locker room that the coach was forced to comply and had to tell the Barnes that Bucky wasn’t welcome in the locker room and would have to change somewhere else and shower when he got home. Outside of the sports world, his friends began dropping him because it hurt their social status to be friends with him. His girlfriend at the time broke up with him and claimed she had to date a real man, not some weirdo.

Sixteen year old Bucky had never felt more alone. Then, the nerds of the school stepped up and told Bucky that he was still welcome at their lunch table. He began eating lunch with them and discussing all the new video games and comic books. In these people, he found good friends. At comic-con, he found a place where no one gave a fuck what your sexual orientation was as long as you didn’t hit on kids, and Bucky felt like he found a sanctuary.

But now his sanctuary is full of toxic thoughts and poisonous doubts. Bucky didn’t pay attention during the panels, faked a smile and posed for pictures when asked, had Sam get the autographs for him. The first day of comic-con came to a close and Bucky was not doing well.

“Bucky, are you okay?” Sam asked softly.

“I’m fine, quit fucking asking me that and take me to Rhodey’s.” Bucky growled.

 

Steve Rogers was exhausted from a long day of comic-con. Who’d have thought panels, taking photos and signing autographs could be so tiring? The entire cast of _Shield_ and then some had decided to eat together.

“My friend Rhodey owns a diner. If we’re eating out, we have to at least drop in.” Tony quickly told everyone.

They all agreed and before long they were at Rhodey’s Diner.

“Well, there’s no question on who owns the diner.” Clint joked.

Clint played Hawkeye and made the role so much better with the fact that he’s deaf in one ear and knows perfect ASL. Natasha, who plays Black Widow, rolled her eyes at her friend. Thor was talking to Bruce, who plays The Hulk and Phil Coulson, the creator of _Shield_.

Tony walked into the diner like he owned the place.

“Rhodey, I’m home!” Tony shouted as he entered the restraint.

Steve cringed at how loud is co-star was being as a rather athletic looking black man walked out from the back.

“Tony Stark, you better have a good reason for screaming in my restaurant.” Rhodey said with a mock glare.

“Yeah, the reason is: me. I’m here. You may now rejoice.” Tony teased.

“You’ve always been a giant weirdo.” Rhodey said before giving Tony a hug.

They got a table in the back of the diner where they were content for a while. Rhodey hung around them for a while, making conversation with everyone but mainly Tony and Pepper. Whenever Tony did something weird, Rhodey would roll his eyes and mutter something about Tony not having changed a bit.

There weren’t more than a handful of other people at the diner and Steve felt relaxed. One of the downsides to being famous is having people hounding you and following you everywhere. Steve missed privacy like an old girlfriend, and sitting in Rhodey’s Diner like this was the closest to privacy he’s had in a long time.

A bell chimed as a black man with an athletic build and a purple outfit came into the diner. After looking at the outfit for a minute, Steve recognized it as Hawkeye’s costume. Rhodey’s head shot up at the bell and his features softened when he saw who it was. Rhodey excused himself and jogged over to the man in the Hawkeye costume who looked slightly panicked. Steve knew he shouldn’t ease drop, but he couldn’t resist.

“Wilson, what’s wrong?” Rhodey asked.

“Bucky’s have a panic attack outside the diner. Can I get a glass of water to bring out to him?” ‘Wilson’ asked.

“Yeah, Sam, of course you can. Do you know what triggered it?” Rhodey asked, telling a waiter to go get a glass of water.

“Comic-con. It was his first since leaving the military, I think he forgot how hectic everything is.” Sam sighed.

Steve turned his head to the window where he saw a rather attractive man on the ground, shaking and appearing to be hyperventilating. The man was dressed in a Thor costume and was holding a blonde wig in his hand. Before he could remind himself that it’s rude to intrude on other people’s lives, Steve sprang from his seat, taking his water with him and walked out of the diner.

Steve walked right up to the man and it was very clear that he was having an anxiety attack. Steve crouched in front of him and held the water out for the other man.

“Hey, have some of my water. Everything is gonna be okay, your friend is getting you some more water inside.” Steve said gently.

The man took the glass with a shaky hand and raised the glass to his mouth. Water splashed out of the cup, but instead of helping the man steady, he let him do it himself. He didn’t want the man to think Steve thought he was incapable of taking care of himself. The man took a long gulp of the water before setting the glass down next to him. Steve almost got up to leave when he heard the man gasping for air and sobbing horribly, even worse than before.

“Hey, hey, it’s gonna be okay. Can you tell me what color your cape is?” Steve asked softly.

“R-r-red.” The man answered in between sobs.

“Good, that’s real good. Can you tell me what color that car is?” Steve asked again, pointing to a yellow VW bug.

“Y-y-yel-yellow.” Was the reply.

They went on this way for twenty minutes. The man’s friend, “Sam” had long since returned but said nothing as the man slowly began to calm. Once the man was calm and collecting himself, Steve smiled.

“You did good, man. You guys have a good day.” Steve told both of them, standing up.

For the first time, the man’s head shot up and a look of both horror and admiration was on his face.

“Oh my god. Y-you’re Steve Rogers.” The man gaped.

“Yeah, I am. And you are?” Steve prompted.

“Bucky. Bucky Barnes.” The man replied, as Steve shook his hand.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Bucky Barnes. I hope you had fun at the convention, you too Sam.” Steve addressed the other man who beamed.

Steve waved goodbye before going back into the diner.

“What the hell was that?” Natasha demanded as he sat back down.

“Nothing, I was just helping a fan through an anxiety attack.” Steve shrugged.


End file.
